Memento Vivere
by Duzzie
Summary: The ocean is a place of great sorrows and great happiness. Somewhere between it all, Luffy recovers from his losses and Law tries to keep the pieces together. Snippets during a week of revelations.
1. Monday

**Word Count: 100**

**Monday**

**...**

_an: originally, this mini-story was from my collection of drabbles, "Many Pieces", an ongoing collection of mine, but I thought, since these drabbles actually come together to create a story, as opposed to all the others that stand alone, I would create a separate story for them so that it's easier to read and navigate around. Check out "**Many Pieces**" if you like this, and please **review**! _

_dedication: SilverStream101, you're awesome._

**...**_  
_

"**Hey, Luffy, remember when we were young?"**

So he dreams. Not of the vast blue skies yet to be seen, but of those that have long since faded into nights, the sun leaving behind the past.

The grass is soft under his feet, ticklish reminders of a home waiting to welcome him back to the warmth of childhood, but his fireplace is cold and he has no wood to burn.

And so he dreams of the cold. An empty world with familiarly foreign faces in a life past.

Even in his dreams, he has lost a brother.

The aching _grows_.


	2. Tuesday

**Word Count: 100**

**Tuesday**

**...  
**

He comes to, waking in and out as briefly as the waves.

Awake, asleep, the tides of the ocean rocking him in an unfamiliar wood. There, a crack of light, a peak of eye. Sore. A dull burning in his stomach, not hunger. Shouting. Silence. Darkness.

People by his bedside, but no antlers. Once he thinks he wakes crying, but it might've been a dream. What was he crying for again? Oh, oh, oh.

In, out, reality covering him, a blanket on his leaden heart. Straw clenched between fingers. There. Unclench. Breathe.

Back to the void. Momentarily escaping once again.


	3. Wednesday

**Word Count: 100**

**Wednesday**

**...**

_dedication: to my reviewers, especially the regulars :3_****

..._  
_

He wouldn't eat. The day he woke up he trained until he couldn't stand anymore, and then he trained some more. Law watched him, keeping a careful eye on his current patient.

He watched him rage. Let him grieve. The sun rose and fell, and still, Luffy stayed on deck, stitches pulled and bloody, arms sagging in exhaustion. Attentive, he chewed quietly before approaching, throwing a plate down at the immobile boy.

The food went untouched. He sat down. Minutes of a patient silence. Thoughtful.

"…I had a brother once, too," he said.

The next morning, the food was gone.


	4. Thursday

**Word Count: 100**

**Thursday**

**...**_  
_

Once, he raised two boys and promised he'd do it right this time. Now, he digs two graves, filling one with memories and the other with the hope that he won't have to use it.

'War is ugly,' he remembers hearing his own father tell him, 'but necessary.'

'Yes,' he thinks, 'war is ugly.' But try as he might, he can't bring himself to rationalize its necessity.

Despite the bustling of the world around him, his ship is silent. The ocean, bare in her beauty, rocks his boat, stirs his memories.

Floating, floating, floating atop the dark mass of dreams.


	5. Friday

**Word Count: 100**

**Friday**

**...**

He collapsed the second day after waking. Law was expecting it. He carried him into a room and took the hat off his head. Briefly, fine straw scratched against his rough calluses.

He went on deck.

They had reached cool waters. When he breathed, silent clouds greeted him, rising into the starless sky.

'Impossible,' he had thought while operating. 'This amount of damage is humanly impossible,' he'd grunted, blood soaked into his shirt, his skin. Never before had he seen anything like it.

Near his hands the small heart of a boy had trembled. He'd thought, 'I _will_ save him.'


	6. Saturday

**Word Count: 100**

**Saturday**

**...**

Nighttime. Lounging, but alert, he hardly stirs for his approaching companion. He's hard to ignore, though, toiling energy boiling beneath the surface, black exhaustion underlining his eyes. He almost thinks he's looking into a mirror.

"We're heading to Amazon Lily. You can figure out what to do there."

He moves to lie down, covering his face with the back of his wrists.

"I'm so tired. I just want to sleep the world away," Luffy says.

They're not nakama, or friends, they're hardly anything, but he feels a kindred in this kid.

"You'll be okay," he says, and he means it.


	7. Sunday

**word count: 100**

**Sunday**

**…**

When they depart, the oceans are rough. His ship is bustling with energy, the dark silence of the week slowly dissipating.

He hums with anticipation; the world is out there, waiting for him.

"Law," he hears as he's boarding his ship. He turns around, unsure of what to expect. "Thanks," Luffy says, and they look at each other, a mutual understanding. He nods and watches the boy turn and walk away.

_His back is straight and wide and his eyes had been blazing._

Salty air whipping across his face, he welcomes the taste of a new age on his tongue.


End file.
